“With over 30,000 skills in the ‘Alexa Skills Store’ in India, brands and developers truly understand the opportunity that voice presents.

“Today, over 40 devices with Alexa built-in are available to Indian customers, from multiple brands like Sony, LG, Bose, iBall, Panasonic and boat,” Dilip R.S., Country Manager for Alexa Skills and Voice Services, Amazon India said in a statement.

Amazon last month announced that developers can now start building Alexa skills for customers in India with the new Hindi voice model available in Alexa Skills Kit (ASK).

The Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) is a collection of free, self-service APIs and tools that make it fast and easy for developers to create skills, or capabilities, for Alexa.

Amazon Alexa. (Representational image). Flickr

Apart from Hindi, users can respond to Alexa’s English statements in Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Bengali, Telugu, Gujarati and other regional languages.

Alexa is currently available in over 80 countries and speaks more than 14 language variants.

Rohit Prasad, Vice President and Head Scientist for Alexa, told IANS recently that the company is working on infusing regional languages capabilities in Alexa for the Indian market but these are early days.

With the government setting a target of 2023 to step up the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in India, global 3D design company Dassault Systemes is mulling to invest more for the development of the EV ecosystem

With the government setting a target of 2023 to step up the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in India, global 3D design company Dassault Systemes is mulling to invest more for the development of the EV ecosystem in the country, a top company executive said on Sunday.

When it comes to Electric Vehicles, India is the most interesting market because it is able to think about innovation, and is involved in a lot of testing and trying to find new disruptive ways, according to Florence Verzelen, Executive Vice President, Industry Marketing, Global Affairs and Communication, Dassault Systemes.

“Now the customers are looking for mobility from point A to point B that is cheap and sustainable without too much emission. So our customers are transforming their business models to provide electric and autonomous vehicles and that may not necessarily be cars,” Verzelen told IANS.

Two-, three- and four-wheelers, which are battery operated, will not have to pay fees for renewal of the registration certificate. Pixabay

“It can be a combination of cars and scooters. We are providing these industries with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to innovate and design the innovation of the vehicle as well as the plant,” Verzelen said.

The 3DEXPERIENCE major, which offers product lifecycle management (PLM) and 3D modelling software, simulation apps and industry solutions, has just announced a partnership with Mahindra Electric Mobility wherein the latter will deploy Dassault Systemes’ SIMULIA family of applications to drive innovation via digital simulation for its existing line-up of EV models and the recently expanded portfolio.

Using the company’s SIMULIA applications, powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, Mahindra Electric has performed thermal, structural, electromagnetic interference, electromagnetic compatibility (EMI-EMC) of critical parts like battery enclosures, and battery management systems for realistic simulation before any physical prototyping.

According to Samson Khaou, Managing Director, India, Dassault Systemes: “We are aligned with the country’s mission for a sustainable and green mobility landscape. EVs are certainly a way forward and we are geared up to address the EV requirements with our portfolio of industry solution experiences based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to address each of the segments — OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), suppliers and startups in the automotive industry.”

The 3DEXPERIENCE major is also working with several startups and other firms that aim to change the energy sector in the country.

“A few days ago in Bengaluru, a startup called Log9 Materials showcased leverages graphene nanotechnology for development of enhanced and commercially viable aluminum-air catteries which would revolutionise the energy sector,” added Verzelen.

Dassault Systèmes Logo. Wikimedia Commons

Apart from EV makers, the firm is in talks with both public and private sector companies in industries like marine, offshore and industrial equipment and energy.

“We have 2700+ people working with us in India and it is a very important market for us. We also have a lot of partners who are selling solutions with us and we are focusing on industries that are undergoing significant transformation such as transportation and mobility, aerospace and defence, life sciences, construction and smart cities,” noted Verzelen.

Extremely bullish on India, Dassault Systemes is also looking to open more innovation centres in the country. It currently has the maximum number of innovation centres in India.

“We have more innovation centres in India than in Europe and we are super interested in opening more. We definitely have plans for that. I hope the next time I come to India, I can formally announce the opening of a new centre,” Verzelen told IANS

More than one third of the company’s workforce is in India and it is mulling to increase the headcount considering the innovations happening in the country. Dassault Systemes’ R&D centre is located in Pune.

“We have a total of 12 different brands which have a specialised team in India, focusing on different aspects of the technologies that we provide. We have a lot of brands and they require lots of research,” Verzelen said.

“We are very selective about our R&D centres. We have no R&D centre in China, and have limited resources in Singapore. Apart for resources in Japan and the US, we have a huge centre in France. India is the country that we look at when it comes to R&D,” Verzelen noted. (IANS)